People take away from meaty movies what means something
special to them. "Shattered Glass" reminds me of a thought I
had some time ago when I was teaching full time and took on a
night-school job as well. Like others in my profession, I would
be making more money with two jobs than I would with just one,
obviously. But like others with the extra job, I was tired all the
time. As a result, my performance suffered in the daytime and
suffered at night as well. I got to thinking: how ironic that the
more money that people make by taking on extra jobs, the less
effective they are!

As for how this connects to "Shattered Glass," Billy Ray's
gripping account of a journalist for a respected publication who,
like Jayson Blair of the New York Times, faked several of his
stories--27 out of 41, in fact (or should we say in
fiction)...Stephen Glass, who is indeed shattered by what he had
done, was just twenty-four years of age in 1998 when the
exposure was made. Like people who work more than one job,
he not only worked his full-time grind at The New Republic,
which for my money is the country's most respectable magazine
about politics: He took on freelance gigs with such high-paying
mags as Rolling Stone and George. But that's not all. He had
the distorted ambition to go to Georgetown Law School at night,
which only a kid in his twenties could do at all given the heavy
study required and of course the presence in class. How can he
possibly go out on assignments in and around Washington, D.C.
such as a hotel convention of young computer hackers, take the
notes and interview the people, then submit an in-depth article
to his editor at The New Republic? He can't and did not. He
faked most of the stories and, since he was well-liked at the
magazine--he could entertain the staff at meetings as though
telling stories of the 1001 Nights and had a youthful
charisma--he was given considerable support by his colleagues
such as young reporters Caitlin Avey (Chloe Sevigny) and Amy
Brand (Melanie Lynskey). He was mentored by the late, great
Michael Kelly (Hank Azaria), who was later fired by publisher
Marty Peretz (Ted Kotcheff) for personality clashes and for
siding with the workers repeatedly against the administration of
the periodical.

With a dynamic, credible script from writer-director Billy Ray,
whose film work so far is remarkably thin for a guy who could
punch out and lead actors in such a dramatic work, "Shattered
Glass" carries with it as much tension as a good mystery, even
though we know in advance that the faker will get caught. We
wish beyond hope that the guy will get away with what he's
doing because we in the audience are carried away as much as
everyone who worked with him at the magazine.

"Shattered Glass" is a must-see for everyone. This should be
required viewing in schools of journalism from Columbia to
Stanford because it's not only a wake-up call against unethical
writing but because we learn so much about the profession
within the story's 94 minutes. We find out--without thinking in
any way that we're sitting in a classroom--that at a highly
regarded journal like The New Republic, a story does not simply
get written by a reporter and slipped into the magazine as
though it were a hot item that might be picked up by a tabloid's
extra edition. In fact one wonders how a story can go through
so many employees that it remains timely. It goes to the
fact-checkers, then to editors who add a comma here and
delete an apostrophe there. It goes to lawyers who make sure
nothing in the article could evoke a lawsuit. Then it goes back
to a few editors and a few fact-checkers and to the reporter.
Oh, and to the lawyers again.

In the story Stephen Glass (Hayden Christensen), on top of
the world at 24, is sought out for stories about hackers and for
commentary about political conventions. He's big enough to tell
his assistants to send phone calls from George and Rolling
Stone to his voice mail. When he discusses his work, say, the
hackers' convention, he gets up on the chair and gyrates to
emulate the behavior of the acne-covered kid who has been
made a hero by Geeks Anonymous. Glass is an entertainer; he
appears invulnerable. To Hayden Christensen's credit, he
conveys both the glow about his head at the beginning of the
year 1998, and the tearful, suicidal lad he becomes by the end
of the year when reporter Adam Penenberg (Steve Zahn) of a
now-defunct online journal, Forbes Digital, checks into the story
and discovers that the hotel in which the hackers' convention
met on Sunday...was closed on Sunday; and that the restaurant
to which the journalists repaired for dinner on Sunday...was
closed at 3 p.m. as well.

We're not entirely sure about the motivation of this young
man. Did he get a high every time he put one over on his editor,
Chuck Lane (Peter Sarsgaard) and on the reading public? Was
this a crime of opportunity by a fellow who, after getting away
with some small stuff, tested the waters to see just how far he
could go? Or is the answer in some more banal fact, such as
the fact that he was overwhelmed with work from law school
and freelance articles?

Incredibly good performances abound, especially from Hank
Azaria as Michael Kelly, a journalist who, after being fired form
The New Republic went on to edit Atlantic Monthly and was
tragically killed in Iraq this year; from Peter Sarsgaard as Chuck
Lane, who had a difficult time taking Michael Kelly's place as
editor given his lack of personality and the belief that he had no
loyalty to the current staff; and of course to Hayden Christensen,
in virtually every scene, who like a tragic Sophoclean hero or
like Ozymandias has his 15 minutes of fame only to fall into
tearful disfavor.